River Report

July 11, 2008

Friday, July 11, 2008

Now that’s what we like to see! Young Mr. Nagel is having a great time. Not everyone is born with a flyrod in their hand. He’s indeed lucky to have folks that care enough to pass along a love of the river. A fine gift to give.

 

 

 

Well Summer is really here.  The week’s weather forecast is calling for temperatures in the upper 70’s to 80’s.  That should conclude the last vestiges of Hex on the upper Manistee.  Folks are still chasing the big bug but it’s getting very difficult to rely on a nightly flight on any of the waters.  If you do want to continue the chase, fish iso’s into darkness and be prepared to go mousing if the giant mayflies don’t show up for the occasion.  I know you folks love the big fish photos that keep us all dreaming, so here’s one last Hex pic.  Brian McFadden guided his good friend Danny Smith to this monster.

 

 

 Hex fishing ends up being all about the hunt and results. It’s great to catch huge fish, but that’s not the only reason I fish. I’m sorta glad it’s winding down. Now is the time we spend our hours away from everything cluttered and enjoy uncrowded streams. We get to truly relax with friends, with family, alone. We get to leave expectation behind and fish mostly with hope. This is also the time that we really become better dry fly anglers. Hard casts into cover. Accurate casts and good drifts with a tiny fly to blanket hatches of tricos in the early morning hours. Pure, clear water that betrays a heavy tippet. This is the good stuff. Get dialed in this time of year, and it’ll pay you back every year.

 

We’re moving strongly to summertime fishing, which means early morning tricos (seen a few . . . should get going this week on the North) and daytime terrestrial fishing. A good bet is to look around you once in the river, find the hardest place to cast, pop a rubber-legged something under the overhang , and twitch it. Fun way to fish. If you’re getting into the brookies a little, don’t be afraid to drop a small nymph off the back of your terrestrial—increase the odds.

I want to thank you all again for the overwhelming support of what we’re trying to do. I suppose it’s sorta crazy trying to get a shop going this year, and it wouldn’t be possible without all of you. But I love it. I’ll never lose sight of that fact. So, thank you all.

See you soon, Andy